The microminiaturization of electronic components has created widespread growth in the use of portable electronic devices such as cellular phones, pagers, video cameras, facsimile machines, portable stereophonic equipment, personal organizers and personal computers. The growing use of portable electronic equipment has created ever increasing demand for improved power sources for these devices. Relevant batteries include primary batteries, i.e., batteries designed for use through a single charging cycle, and secondary batteries, i.e., batteries designed to be rechargeable. Some batteries designed essentially as primary batteries may be rechargeable to some extent.
Batteries based on lithium have been the subject of considerable development effort and are being sold commercially. Lithium based batteries generally use electrolytes containing lithium ions. The anodes for these batteries can include lithium metal (lithium batteries), or compositions that intercalate lithium (lithium ion batteries). Preferred electroactive materials for incorporation into the cathodes are compositions that intercalate lithium. The compositions that intercalate lithium, for use in the cathodes, generally are chalcogenides such as metal oxides that can incorporate the lithium ions into their lattice. Vanadium oxides are examples of promising compounds for the production of cathodes because of their high theoretical energy densities.